Category Archives: Cellphone review

Earlier today, Google announced its latest Android phone titled “Project Tango”. This new Android phone experiments with robotics and computer vision to map out the world around you. Project lead, Johnny Lee, stated, “The goal of Project Tango is to give mobile devices a human-scale understanding of space and motion.”

The phone itself measures five inches and includes a few sensors (4 MP camera and a motion tracking camera) that allow the phone to make over a quarter of a million 3D measurements every second. These measurements help the phone update its position, in real-time, and combines all of the data into a single 3D model of the world around you (video below).

This new phone opens up a lot of doors for new features on current smartphones. Chase Cobb stated, “imagine that you scan a small section of your living room and then are able to generate a little game world in it, I don’t know of any controller or gaming device that can do that at the moment.” Besides that, there has also been talk suggesting that these new phones have the ability to help the visually impaired navigate unfamiliar areas with ease. Pretty cool huh?

Well good news to any developers out there. Google is planning on shipping out 200 prototypes and dev kits of Project Tango to “developers with dreams of creating more than a touch-screen app.” There is an application online for anyone who is interested in trying to get their hands on this device, here.

Thoughts on Project Tango? Comment below with any thoughts/opinions. Also, follow me on Twitter to stay up-to-date with current tech news!

The Galaxy S III has been said to be 3D glasses-free. It will run on a powerful quad-core processor, with 2GB of RAM, and LTE. Of course the phone will come preloaded with Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich (One of the few devices with it) along with TouchWiz.

Although rumors say that the Galaxy S III will be 3D, other rumors say that Samsung will be releasing both a 3D as well as a non-3D model.

Not much is known yet about the device so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Earlier today at the much anticipated Apple event, Tim Cook announced the release of the new iPhone, the iPhone 4S. From a quick look at the phone, it looks to be the same as the previous version (iPhone 4) but on the inside, the 4S holds many advantages over the iPhone 4.

The new 4S will continue to have the 3.5 inch Retina display just as previous versions that we have all come to know and love. Besides this, the phone will have a brand new dual-core A5 chip alongside a new dual-core GPU that has been said to boost graphic performance 7x. The antennae around the sides (which caused many users so much trouble) have been revamped and iOS will intelligently switch between two different sets on the fly to avoid dropping calls no matter how you hold it.

On the back of the phone there is a 8-megapixel camera which has a CMOS sensor which helps capture better pictures in low-light situations. The improvement in visuals also extends to video. The 4S can now record 1080p video and has a new image signal processor for image stabilization and facial recognition, making the handset’s camera comparable to many point-and-shoots. This new camera is also said to be faster than most smartphone cameras out there needing only 1.1 seconds before being able to shoot the first picture and only half a second between successful pictures.

Besides these new features on the iPhone 4S, the phone is the first to “test” out the new vocal recognition software, Siri. Just tap the mic on the keyboard and start talking to enter text, check the weather, get directions or perform web searches.

The 4S will come in both black and white, starting at $199 for 16GB and $299 for the 32GB, but the big news is a new 64GB model coming in at a whopping $399. You’ll be able to pre-order this friday, October 7th, and it’ll start shipping on October 14th in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany, and Japan.

Side note, is that Apple is officially welcoming Sprint to the family here in the states while Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Three will all be carrying it in the UK.

Earlier today at the GigaOM Mobilize conference, T-Mobile announced the forthcoming of two new smartphones running on the 4G network.

Cole Brodman, chief marketing officer for the company, revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S II and the HTC Amaze 4G soon will be available on T-Mobile’s 4G network, which is based on HPSA+ 42 technology. He said users of the two smartphones could expect download speeds of 8 Mbps on average and 20 Mbps peak.

Both smartphones are scheduled to be available on October 12. A week ago, AT&T said it would offer the Samsung Galaxy S II on its network on October 2.

Along with these two smartphones, Brodman also introduced T-Mobile’s new 4G Mobile Hotspot which allows up to five devices to connect to the internet.

Throughout the past, we have seen phones with slides, gaming pads, and the traditional keyboard but recently, Microsoft has put a patent exploring the possibility of swapping out your slider accessory for something new. Tired of that keyboard? Replace it with a gamepad, or a life-giving battery pack. According to the patent claims, some of the swappable components will even be able to function wirelessly.

Haven’t seen anything made like this so far (or in the making) but it is a neat concept to look forward to in the future.

Samsung accidentally leaked photos of an upcoming Android smartphone for Verizon on Flickr this morning. The device is called the Samsung Illusion and it’s very much a reality now that the company inadvertently posted a public preview of the device via Flickr, but then quickly set the image to private.

You might know the device as the Samsung Viper. Some of the specs of the device include 1GHz processor, with a 3-5 megapixel camera, 320 x 480 resolution, as well as running on the latest version of Android (Gingerbread).

Most of the details on the handset have not been confirmed except that it will be a eco-friendly device with a Sustainable Product Certification. It is expected to arrive on Verizon around September 29, priced at $100 or less with a new two-year contract.

Verizon Wireless has just announced that one of their most powerful smartphones, the Droid Bionic, will be going on sale this Thursday (September 7th) for $299.99.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Droid Bionic, it is the first Verizon phone to run on a dual-core 1GHz processor to run on Verizon’s fast 4G LTE network. And besides selling the phone, Verizon will also be selling accessories for the phone such as an 11.6 inch lapdock for roughly $300.

This lapdock was first brought up at the CES this past January showing the ability of the phone to connect and run the laptop through its powerful processor. This would give users a full keyboard and large screen to do whatever they like such as edit documents, watch movies, or just browse the web on Firefox.

Although the price of the new smartphone may be high, it is in fact the only smartphone on Verizon that runs on the 4G LTE network with a dual core processor. Besides this, the phone is also now the slimmest phone on the Verizon market being only 0.43 inches thick and weighing in at only 5.6 ounces.

The Bionic will run on the latest version of Android (Android 2.3.4), and will support up to 32GB of storage. The phone also has a front and rear facing camera with the rear one being 8 megapixels putting the phone in major competition with newer smartphones.

Although the price is high, it seems the Droid Bionic packs quite the punch and with the external lapdock, it could even be used as a new cheap laptop!

Earlier today, Verizon announced the launch of their newest BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry Bold 9930. The phone will cost you around $249.99 with a new two-year contract as well as a $30 monthly data plan.

The BlackBerry Bold is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet measuring in at 10.5mm. The Bold is also the first BlackBerry to integrate touch screen with a BlackBerry keyboard. It will have a 2.8 inch touch screen display and will be running on BlackBerry 7.

Some other key features of the device include full QWERTY keyboard with trackpad navigation, a 1.2GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera able to take 720p HD video, and memory can be expanded up to 32GB through a microSD slot.

Besides this, the phone is also “global ready” meaning that customers can enjoy the high speeds in over 200 different countries.

Early this morning, Samsung announced that they were extending their technology partnership with Nvidia from tablets to smartphones with the creation of their newest smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy R. The monbile business manager from Nvidia says that the Galaxy R will show off Tegra’s multimedia power. The phone is now available but only in Sweden. No word has been said when it will be available in North America or Europe.

The Galaxy R will have a 4.19 inch touch screen display (800×400 resolution), run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and will include the same processor that is in the Galaxy Tab 10.1, a dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor. It will also come with 8GB of storage (expandable to 32GB), 1080p HD video playback, and 720p HD video capture. The Galaxy R is only 131 grams and less than 1cm thick!